Tag: panasonic

The fast explosion of DSLR shooting speed it up the development of large chip camcorders. Today the major video camcorder manufacturers are fighting for the best large chip cameras. There are 2 options in the market for the prosumer level and one option for the entry professional level.

The prosumer level cameras are:

AF100 – made by Panasonic
FS100 – made by Sony (release at the end of the summer)

Both in the range of US$5,000

The professional entry level is the Sony F3. It goes for US$15,000 with no lenses and US$18,000 with three prime lenses.

There are a lot of good places to research and understand the best option for every person. One of the best places is the personal website of Philip Bloom. He is a filmmaker with a lot of experience in all of these cameras as well DSLRs.

I took a video from his vimeo page and I removed some frames so we could compare side by side the 3 video cameras and the DSLR 5D. The full video can be seen at the bottom of the page.

This was one of the craziest yet amazing months of my life.
I started the month completely broke. Instead of freaking out, I put myself together and started working my own projects: 2 scripts and a new demo reel. I had faith that I would pay my bills.

During this time I got to know some people that worked on a new TV station called REDE ITV. This is a Brazilian network based in LA with open programming for the whole southern California and I believe with concession for other US states. I went there for an interview with the owner Josias and his wife Sandra. I was surprised when I discovered that Josias knew my father from the time they were young and used to work together in the same group of actors and directors of stage plays back in the days. The interview went great and after that I did at least 4 freelancer jobs that saved my financial situation.

But the best was about to come. I have a friend called Joe Camacho with whom I had classes together. He mention to me about a production company that needed 1st and 2nd AD for an upcoming low budget film. He thought that it could be a good idea if we worked together there. We went on a meeting and in 4 hours I left the place with a contract in hands. The money was enough to save my finances, but I really didn’t care about that. The best part of this project was the project itself. It’s a film about one of the greatest actors that ever lived: Marlon Brando. What makes this project even more special is the group of people that are involved with it.

Starting with the director Damian Chapa who is definitely a creative person. His passion for filmmaking and his love for the art is visible on every time he smiles on set. He is a grown up man with the power to keep a young soul. We had major obstacles during the process of making this film and, like a warrior, he never let the production down and he kept fighting. This project is a challenge from day one and, in order to make it, one needs a good production team. That’s where Annette Young, Pete Allman, Ryan Torres, and Manny Lopez come to make the dream alive. They are the responsible for everything. They are on top of every issue. All the time they are talking to investors, actors, publicists, and celebrities. If wasn’t for them, there will be no film.

MYC Agnew is the head of everything. He is the voice to be heard and respected. He calls to himself this responsibility and he takes every matter as part of his day by day duties. Everything goes through him. Madla Hruza is the production and costumer designer and she is the artistic eye on every set and costume. She oversees the great work that Amor Sanchez and Parlav Chaudhary do. She is a true artist. Making a film like this needs a very accurate make up department and the head of this department is Keith Beck who is not only very talented but also a very real and nice person. He works with Jason Becker who is the hair stylist, Brittany Hall who is the make up fashion, and Gage Hubbard who is the special effects make up. They are fast and they know what they are doing. They help me more than I help them.

Of course that every film needs actors and this film has an incredible cast. Windy Myers is the casting director that takes care of more than 50 principal actors and 300 extras that we need to make this film come to life. I introduced to her the wonderful and personal friend Lakrishi Kindred who is now helping her with extras.

The camera and sound departments are the best department in this film. Pierre Chemaly is the DP and one of the best that I had the pleasure to work with. Nothing would be possible if he didn’t have a marvelous crew to work with. The Gaffer is Elton James, the grip is Ray Klas, Luigi Ventura is the 1st AC, and the 2nd AC is Abu Baker Siddiq. All of them are fast and understand the nuts and bolts of their profession. Of course that nothing would be possible if the sound department wasn’t good enough to keep up with the camera department. Kirk Dwye is the sound mixer and James O Connor is the boom operator. Together they make the crew complete to deliver one of the most beautiful and controversial indie film of all times. We also have help of a number of PAs who come every other day. Those that I can remember are Joe Hang, Travis Thomas, Parris, Brittani Turner, Jermeil Squnders, and Will Hoover.

There are people who helped but off set. The writer is James Quinn and the editor is Nathaniel Nose. He participated in one scene at the Military base in San Pedro. There is also the still photographer Naoe.

Well this is what I can remember. There are so many people helping on this film that I can not even remember of every one. There are people helping with locations, with cars, with props, with wardrobe, you name it.

I wish I could have more time to talk about each one of them. But at this moment right now, I have to work on the schedule and send call sheets so everybody could be on time at the new location tomorrow. It’s a lot of work, but a great pleasure.

Yesterday we had barbecue on set. We did a late party and everybody loved. I was pleased to see everyone happy. My roommate Peter Roca who helped me to cook for everybody.

I put together a video for a non profit organization based in Pomona California.
They provide kids with boxing classes and support for competition. Their work is amazing and the Head Coach/Director Jorge Castaneda and his right hand man Jerry are really cool and down to earth guys.

We shot one of the scene of the film Last Act in their gym and they helped us not only with the space but also with a lot of extras. The day we shot in their facility was definitely one of the best days of the production. The person in the production who helped us to get all this done, was the fantastic Coco Cook.

We are taking 5 days off and we will start production back again this Sunday, December 20. Ron Quigley (dir./e.p./lead) had to travel. His brother with cancer unfortunately past away. We were about to wrap our second week shooting, and the bad news came. Ron tried to hold on and keep going. This is a lot to handle. The best thing for him to do was visit his family, spend some time away, recharge batteries, and come back renewed.

The good part is that the production is on schedule, footage looks amazing, performances are believable, crew is getting along pretty well, workflow is in shape. I’m pretty confident that Ron is happy with the work that everybody is doing. As for me, I am really happy with my work too. I am feeling more confident about the work that I do. I can manage the crew better now than I ever managed before. We are always getting good results. Best of all, I am making new friends.

Everybody is amazing. I don’t want to leave anyone behind, but as far as I remember there are in the

Everybody is doing an amazing job. There is an excitement every time we call action. I hope this excitement will follow us wherever we go.
I hope that Ron’s brother is resting in peace now. I dedicate my work in his name. May God bless his soul.

Tomorrow we will start the film. The guys had already being there today for a test shoot and pre light the set. I was not able to go because I had to get done with a bunch of school work. I had even a test of one of the best classes I ever took: grip. Good thing is that I nailed the test. I am getting my school done and I am ready for the film.

We are going to start tomorrow from 7 am to 7 pm. It’s a lot of work but we are getting more people to work with us. Today I met a guy that wants to take some still photography of the film. That’s great. I hope he can join us.

There is also one more thing that I would like to mention.
I am an engaged man. I will marry my princess. She didn’t know that I planned to propose to her on thanksgiving. I prepared everything for when the moment would come. I even taped the whole thing with a hidden camera. It was awesome. I was very nervous and stressed out. My neck was killing me since I decided to take this step. It was about one month ago. I called her parents and they were happy with the news. We will figure our plans after I am done with the film and she is done with her finals at school. Now the world is opening to a new perspective. New adventures. New challenges.

Today I was supposed to travel to Atlanta to visit my sister, my brother in law, nephew, and my lovely girl, and guess what??? I missed the flight. Now I have to be on stand by for the next one that leaves 8 hours later of my initial flight. I am so stressed with this that I decided to write about it. This vacation to me represents a lot of really important things in my life. I will have to set my mind in order to start the feature, finish my school work, and give a step forward towards my relationship with my girl.
I think that I am expecting so much from this trip that I forgot to focus on simple tasks like be on time. This morning I woke up late and instead of getting myself ready, I looked over the internet to find good deals on cameras that I wont buy for now. I mean I was checking if the HPX500, that uses interchangeable lenses with a bayonet mount, works fine with a prime cannon lenses with the same mount. I was doing all of this with no reason because I wont buy an HPX specially because they start at a list price of 10 thousand dollars. The lenses goes for at least 2 thousand dollars more. That is actually a very neat subject, but what the hell was I doing if I had to take a flight in 3 hours from that time.
I left my house one hour and a half before the flight. The train was departing when I hit the station and that made me lost 15 more minutes. I got to the station where I was supposed to get into another train and I decided to get a cab that cost me 40 bucks. I went to the Airtran counter and there was nobody there, I tried to pass the security with my bags and they did not allowed me to. I tried another way and finally I passed the security. My flight was for 12:55 and I got at the gate at 12:54. The attendant told me that the plane had already gone. I was actually not devastated because you reap what you sow.
Now I am back home and I still have a plane to catch but this time I wont be late.

I am working on my first 20 minutes short film.
There are many challenges in order to make this film a reality.
Location is hard to find when you don’t have money and crew. I need to count on other people’s help and it is just not that easy.
Thank God I do have some good people helping me. My right hand man is FELIPE COSTA. He is one of the most talented and responsible person I’ve ever met. Coco Cook also is a great professional and she really knows how to handle everything I ask her.

This Thursday night I have my first shooting scheduled. It’s going to be the nightmare sequence, where the main actress Veronika is going to dialogue with herself. That’s crazy huh!!! My teacher will help us to make it happen. He is the best cinematographer I meet in my whole life. I will have the pleasure to work with him. His name is Charles Haine.

Tomorrow I have my first meeting with my main casting. We are going to discuss relationship, objectives, background story, and so on. It is important to discuss the schedule also.

Tonight i will call my crew and let them know that we are going to be ready to go.
I pray for God to bless this project.